A KINTYRE American footballer has become the toast of New York after kicking his team to the Super Bowl with a dramatic extra time goal.
And his old Campbeltown football coach this week revealed that Lawrence Tynes had been an exceptional ‘soccer’ player when he played on the left wing for Longrow Boys Football Club under-10s team.
Lawrence fired the New York Giants into the Super Bowl after kicking a 47-yard field goal in overtime against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.
The kick saw the Giants win 23-20 and they will now take part in the sport’s showpiece game against New England Patriots in Arizona next month.
Although born in Greenock, Lawrence attended St Kieran’s Primary School where he played football and shinty. He left Campbeltown, aged 10, when he moved to Florida with his family.
Lawrence, aged 29, is now aiming to become the first Scot to win the Super Bowl.
Willie Paterson was coach of Longrow Boys Football Club when Lawrence and his brothers Jason and Mark played in the late 1980s.
‘It was 17 years ago when he left Campbeltown with his family,’ recalled Willie. ‘His parents lived in the high street in the town and his dad Larry was a medic in the American naval base at Machrihanish.
‘At the time there were five football clubs representing the different areas and we had under 10, 12 and 14s teams. Lawerence was very good. He had great skill and control and played with us for four years. He had exceptional pace although he was quite a tall boy and played on the left for us.
‘Lawerence was our player of the year for the under 10s so we moved him up to the under-12s where he didn’t look out of place amongst the older boys. I received a nice letter after the family moved to America from Larry thanking me for working with the boys.’
Willie says it is hard to tell whether Lawrence would have become a professional footballer in Scotland. ‘Larry was very keen for Lawrence and his brothers to get involved in football,’ he said. ‘But it is hard to judge at that age because I had two or three boys before, of a similar age, who you thought might have had a chance of going professional but they lost interest.’
Lawrence, who is a big Celtic fan, is pictured below with current Rangers manager Walter Smith when Longrow played Helensburgh.
Willie said: ‘The picture was taken when Walter Smith was assistant manager of Rangers and his son was playing for Helensburgh. He was very good with our boys giving them tips.’
The Super Bowl will be watched by an estimated one billion people worldwide when it is screened on February 3.
